Muhammad Antar
17th Nov 2020, 15:35
Negatives
Cost 」90k + type ratings
Hard to leave once started (debt)
Early starts (4am) late finishes (2am)
Evenings before an early written off
Morning after lates written off
Little to no flexibility in shifts
Booking leave difficult
Be prepared to miss lots of events
Gets worse when you have children
Have to work weekends/holidays
Intellectually unstimulating
Sedentary
Risk of tinnitus
Elevated exposure to cosmic and UV radiation
Eat poor quality food all day
Industry very sensitive to recessions
Mass redundancies every 10 years
Heavily unionised, employee vs. Employer mentality
No pattern, which makes weekly commitments outside of work hard
Rarely meet other pilots in same position as you, captains gets to know FOs and FOs get to know captains.
Anti-social, large bases mean very impersonal feel. Rare to make work friends.
Job is highly repetitive, mundane and dull
It kills your passion for aviation if you had one to begin with
It makes you not want to go on holiday as it involves going to an airport when on leave.
Reduced life expectancy
High chance of long term sick compared to other careers
Usually spend your first day off recovering from fatigue
Elevated risk of kidney stones (dehydration)
No transferable skills, virtually unemployable once out of aviation
Most redundant pilots become delivery drivers
Pilots mainly just monitor systems all day
Job at high risk of becoming redundant or single pilot (technology)
Little to no job satisfaction
Algorithmic processes, checklists, rarely do you apply your brain. You just apply an SOP or checklist.
Very little responsibility, captains are liable, not responsible.
Airline industry is in a ‘race to the bottom’
Most perks are being stripped away
No job progression aside from Command.
could take 10 years in this climate
You have to hold a poo in all day at work. Reeks havoc with your bowel.
Pilots are treated as a commodity
Many pilots face long commutes or end up getting ‘crash pad accommodation
No personal or professional development
Low starting salaries in this COVID climate, will be around for years to come
Decent chance of having to move abroad when starting out. Can be difficult to get a home base.
Positives
Get to read the newspaper at work
Can eventually earn 」100k+ as a captain with no educational qualifications
More days off
Nice view
Rarely have to commute in rush hour
Leave work at work
It doesn’t take a genius to see how I feel about the job. Aviation attracts a wide range of people from those with higher educations to those who left school at 16 with none. Compared to factory work this is a reasonably good job, but compared to what I used to do, senior accountant in a large firm, it sucks.
If you want a job where you don’t do much, don’t need to go in much, get paid well for it but at the cost of your health and social life then this is the job for you. However if you are higher educated, driven, enjoy responsibility and autonomy then stay away.
The job has very little satisfaction or enjoyment.
Make sure you are Informed about what the job is really like. My flying loan is nearly paid off and I will be jumping ship as soon as possible.
Feel free to add anything I’ve missed off. Stay safe everyone.
Cost 」90k + type ratings
Hard to leave once started (debt)
Early starts (4am) late finishes (2am)
Evenings before an early written off
Morning after lates written off
Little to no flexibility in shifts
Booking leave difficult
Be prepared to miss lots of events
Gets worse when you have children
Have to work weekends/holidays
Intellectually unstimulating
Sedentary
Risk of tinnitus
Elevated exposure to cosmic and UV radiation
Eat poor quality food all day
Industry very sensitive to recessions
Mass redundancies every 10 years
Heavily unionised, employee vs. Employer mentality
No pattern, which makes weekly commitments outside of work hard
Rarely meet other pilots in same position as you, captains gets to know FOs and FOs get to know captains.
Anti-social, large bases mean very impersonal feel. Rare to make work friends.
Job is highly repetitive, mundane and dull
It kills your passion for aviation if you had one to begin with
It makes you not want to go on holiday as it involves going to an airport when on leave.
Reduced life expectancy
High chance of long term sick compared to other careers
Usually spend your first day off recovering from fatigue
Elevated risk of kidney stones (dehydration)
No transferable skills, virtually unemployable once out of aviation
Most redundant pilots become delivery drivers
Pilots mainly just monitor systems all day
Job at high risk of becoming redundant or single pilot (technology)
Little to no job satisfaction
Algorithmic processes, checklists, rarely do you apply your brain. You just apply an SOP or checklist.
Very little responsibility, captains are liable, not responsible.
Airline industry is in a ‘race to the bottom’
Most perks are being stripped away
No job progression aside from Command.
could take 10 years in this climate
You have to hold a poo in all day at work. Reeks havoc with your bowel.
Pilots are treated as a commodity
Many pilots face long commutes or end up getting ‘crash pad accommodation
No personal or professional development
Low starting salaries in this COVID climate, will be around for years to come
Decent chance of having to move abroad when starting out. Can be difficult to get a home base.
Positives
Get to read the newspaper at work
Can eventually earn 」100k+ as a captain with no educational qualifications
More days off
Nice view
Rarely have to commute in rush hour
Leave work at work
It doesn’t take a genius to see how I feel about the job. Aviation attracts a wide range of people from those with higher educations to those who left school at 16 with none. Compared to factory work this is a reasonably good job, but compared to what I used to do, senior accountant in a large firm, it sucks.
If you want a job where you don’t do much, don’t need to go in much, get paid well for it but at the cost of your health and social life then this is the job for you. However if you are higher educated, driven, enjoy responsibility and autonomy then stay away.
The job has very little satisfaction or enjoyment.
Make sure you are Informed about what the job is really like. My flying loan is nearly paid off and I will be jumping ship as soon as possible.
Feel free to add anything I’ve missed off. Stay safe everyone.